Way back when we took delivery of our Polestar 2, we (more so myself than my wife I suppose) were excited at the prospect of a sporty EV. Coming off a stint with the Audi e-tron (now called Q8 e-tron), the Polestar 2 proved to be nearly the exact opposite. Instead of a floaty and luxurious SUV, we had a true sport sedan (lift back) with a new (again at the time) technology suite based on the Android Automotive Operating system. After 2+ years and over 12,000 miles logged I can say that the Polestar 2 brought a smile to my face nearly every time I drove it.
Size
At a tidy 181″ the Polestar 2 is fairly compact within American car standards, just a hair shorter than something like the Toyota Corolla. Now there are a lot of new EVs out there that make some more novel and efficient use of space packaging within a given footprint of vehicle… but the Polestar 2 isn’t one of them. Based on a platform meant to accommodate traditional gas as well as EV power, the Polestar 2 is tiny on the outside and also fairly tiny on the inside. Rear seat space is snug, as is the cabin up front.
Rear facing car seat?? Forget about it, at least not without the front seat ahead of it being jammed up pretty close to the dash. And therein lies the rub that caused us to close out our lease rather than keep it. The arrival of our second daughter rendered the Polestar 2 fairly unfit for family duties for the time being.
One bonus was the fact that the Polestar 2 is a lift back with split folding seats (if you don’t have car seats installed in the first place). So there’s actually a good amount of cargo flexibility for those that need it. And for solo driving duties, it’s refreshingly nice to have something this trim in size, it’s easy to park in the city! It also made nice in our garage to not have two big beasts in there.
Power and Range
Our 2021 Polestar 2 Launch Edition was a dual motor unit with 408 horsepower and 487 lb-ft of immediate torque. 0-60 was summoned in under 5 seconds easily. While range initially was about 240 miles, it did get bumped via software updates to 250. Refreshed models with dual motor were able to reach up to 276, while newer single motor rear wheel drive models crested 300 miles of range. Side note, it’s pretty crazy that the lifecycle update of the Polestar 2 saw the “single motor” configuration go from a front wheel drive basis to a rear wheel drive basis. What a time to be alive. Range, efficiency and estimated miles were always consistent. Would I have liked the newer 276 range? sure, but with 95%+ of our driving around town and home availability of level 2 charging, the 250 was fine.
Maintenance and Issues
EV’s require less maintenance than gas cars, that’s just the facts. We didn’t need any oil changes. In fact the first “scheduled” maintenance was at the 2 year mark. When we initially leased the 2, the DC area Polestar “space” wasn’t open yet, so it was trucked down from the lovely folks at Polestar Princeton. But soon thereafter the DC space opened, it was initially co-located with a Volvo dealer up in Maryland, but they’ve since moved operations to the District itself. The DC space addressed all our issues and maintenance needs. As our first direct long-term experience with a vehicle assembled in China, it was pretty solid.
Issues: We had an initial paint quality issue that the DC space took and had repainted. We also had an intermittent issue with the vehicle’s connectivity system, which they quickly replaced the TCAM module and it never had a hiccup again.
Maintenance: Again, we only had the one service visit, in which the DC space got us scheduled quickly, and they even came and picked up our car and left a loaner, and had our car returned within the same day. I think it was basically just putting in new wipers and cabin air filter. Easy breezy.
Technology
While the Polestar 2 smartphone app was a little buggy and unstable at the beginning, it would crash and the remote functions for climate etc wouldn’t actuate the first time, etc., each successive software update got better and better. Phone as a key worked well, as did the wireless charging pad (can’t always say that for a lot of vehicles). We got very used to the embedded apps from the Google Play store and having Google Maps in the car and available directly in the digital cluster were terrific. Our Polestar 2 did get support for wired Apple CarPlay during our 2 years and while nice to have, we almost never plugged it in.
Day to Day Living
The Polestar 2 was truly a joy to drive. The sit and drive logic, there’s no physical start/stop button, is something you get super used to quickly, I’d often leave other cars running/on by just trying to get out upon reaching my destination. Phone as a key is similar, it’s so nice to not have to carry car keys around.
Handling and braking are terrific with nicely weighted steering. Polestar also allows for tailored one-pedal driving regeneration levels as well that persist and can stay fixed on the profile. Hyundai EV’s don’t allow one-pedal to remain on with each power cycle. Range is good enough and charging was usually quick work as well. No, not the fastest charging, but with the small’ish battery it’s decently efficient and easy go manage. The one drawback of a taut and responsive sport sedan is on longer treks I did sometimes wish for a slightly softer ride profile.
The car is well-built, solid and utterly reliable. No 12V battery issues that seem to plague so many EVs.
Summary
The Polestar 2 was absolutely delightful and well rounded. The brand’s sport/performance intent is real and I cannot wait to get longer stints in the next generation of Polestars with the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4. Had the Polestar 2 been a hair bigger, we likely would have kept it around longer as well. But as always, we love sampling something new!
